


The Truth of the Matter

by thestagandthewolf



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, But he still loves her, But she realized it was a mistake, But she tells Robert the truth, F/M, Lyanna Stark Lives, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series, Rated M for language, Rhaegar wasn't so great, Robert gets angry, Robert's poor little heart, She broke his heart, She left him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 09:22:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13854822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestagandthewolf/pseuds/thestagandthewolf
Summary: Robert won the war. Lyanna Lived. Everything seemed like it would be a happily ever after. But then Lyanna tells him the truth, and his heart gets ripped from his chest.Just a lot of angst. Enjoy!Shout-out to the lovely lady who helped me edit this one and help write Lyanna's lines. You know who you are, thank you!





	The Truth of the Matter

“Robert, say something, please?” Lyanna’s voice cut through the silence and he could hear the pleading in her tone. Part of him wanted to just turn around, to bound over to her and hold her in his arms again like he used to do before. How could he do that though? Not now. Not now that he knew the truth about what really happened. “Will you not even look at me?”

Against his better judgement, Robert turned to face her. Almost immediately he wished he hadn’t. She always had the unique talent of melting away all of his anger with nothing more than a look but he couldn’t let that happen this time. He tried to keep the fury burning in his eyes, if only to drown out the hurt that this news had caused. What was she expecting him to say? Was she looking for absolution? For forgiveness? Was she hoping he would release her from their betrothal and send her back to the North with the prince’s bastard?

“What do you want me to say Lyanna?” His voice was hoarse, no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t hide the devastation. “You left me. You ran away willingly without a single word. You didn’t tell anyone. You didn’t send a single word of warning. You ran off with that…” Robert stopped in his tracks and looked away again. His voice was starting to raise. He couldn’t say that name without the anger taking over.

“...Liar. He was a liar and I was foolish enough to believe him. I know that, Robert. He promised me that he would send word to my family once we were away. I was naive and —“

“Why did you do it?” Robert blurted out before she could go on. He didn’t want to hear what happened after that. He didn’t want to hear how he had seduced her. He didn’t want to hear that they had spent weeks in bliss together. He didn’t want to hear that she had fallen in love with him in the same way she always said she had loved Robert. “Did you really hate me that much?” He hoped she couldn’t see the shine in his eye from the thought that the woman he loved more than anything in the world may not have ever loved him back.

“Oh Robert, that’s… that’s not it.” Lyanna took a step forward and he could see a warmth in her eyes. A little crease on her forehead made him believe, even for a minute, that maybe she still cared for him. But no. No, he couldn’t think that way. She had made her choice, and it wasn’t him. “I loved you. You know I loved you. I still love you. But I was worried. I didn’t believe that you would stay faithful to me. I was worried-“

“So you run off with a married man? For fuck sakes Lyanna! How in seven hells does that make sense?” There was no use hiding his anger anymore. He was furious. Somehow her failed attempt at explaining herself only made him feel worse. “Did you forget that he not only had a wife, but two fucking children as well? Tell me, how long do you think it would have taken for that… that-“ There was no word strong enough to portray his hatred for the late prince. “For _him_ to get bored of you just like he did his wife and run off with some other stupid girl?”

“He wasn’t…” Her voice was quiet, timid and tiny, like that of a frightened child. It sounded so unlike the Lyanna he knew and loved. In any other circumstance it would have been enough to change the entire tone of the conversation. In any other circumstance, Robert would have lowered his voice, held her close, comforted her and tried to make everything alright. But this wasn’t any other circumstance. This was now and now Robert couldn’t help but want her to feel even a fraction of the pain he was going through. “He wasn’t married. He had it annulled.” She continued, her voice full of uncertainty and a sheepish expression, as if she already knew how he would respond to such words.

“On what fucking grounds? Don’t tell me you actually believed that?” Exasperated, he raked his hands down his face. It made no sense. The Lyanna he knew — the one he fell in love with — wasn’t stupid enough to fall for such lies. She was strong, stubborn, independent and didn’t fall love-sick at the heel of every pretty boy that walked past. “Tell me, who actually knew about the annulment? Hmm? Did the King know? How about the council? The Grand Maester? The High Septon? No? None of those knew? No of course they didn’t know, because it wasn’t real. He and Elia were married for years, their wedding was valid. I was there. Half the Kingdom was there. We saw them say their vows, we saw them wed and then we saw them bedded. No one can say it wasn’t consummated or that she couldn’t produce children because she _did_. Or did you forget about the fact that your vile little lover had children? Their marriage was valid. The annulment was a lie, or the prick paid someone to write it up anyways without any actual legality behind it. So, if this is what your telling yourself in order to justify your actions, then you better think again. He lied to you about the annulment to get you to open your legs for him. Once he had done that, what did he do? He went off to try and kill the rest of your family. To defend the man who had murdered your brother and father. And he left you alone with a bastard in your belly.”

The silence overtook the room once more, seeping into every corner. His words sat heavily between them. Robert wanted to break something. He wanted to scream and shout. He wanted to kill Rhaegar all over again. But, none of that would change anything. Lyanna had made her choice. She chose to leave Robert. She chose to run off with the lying prick. She chose to marry him instead. 

Robert couldn’t look at her. 

He couldn’t look into her eyes without remembering the way she used to look back at him with such love. 

He couldn’t see her lips without thinking about all the times she used to kiss him. 

He couldn’t see her hair without remembering the smell of it as she curled up against his chest, his arms wrapped snugly around her. 

_But worst of all, he couldn’t look at her without being reminded that she did all of that with Rhaegar too._

“Robert, it was a mistake! A grave mistake.” Her voice was thick with emotion and he could almost hear her slumping back and becoming smaller. “He promised me things I never imagined I’d be able to have and it wasn’t until we were in the tower that I realized he didn’t… that he never… that it was all a lie. I wanted so badly to escape from there but the Kingsguard made it impossible. I wasn’t even allowed to walk outside. He stole me away and locked me up. He changed into a different person in that tower and it terrified me. By then, it was too late to realize that I had made a mistake.”

If Robert would have looked up, he would have seen the tears in her eyes. The anger within him would have melted away and he would have done anything to make her feel better. And so, he didn’t look up. But when he spoke again his voice was quieter.

“What do you want me to say, Lyanna? What are you here for?”

“Because I love you.” 

Those simple words felt like a sword through the chest. Robert turned his back on Lyanna, looking out the window without really seeing anything. He hated the fact that his vision was blurry. He hated the fact that his throat was constricted, denying passage to any words he might want to share. But most of all he hated the fact that part of him was so willing to forget everything and go back to how things were before. But how could they do that? When he didn’t respond, Lyanna continued and he heard her take a step forward. 

“I know you won’t believe me. I wouldn’t believe me either. I was stupid. I thought…” She sighed, “It doesn’t matter what I thought. I made a mistake and I will understand if you will never forgive me. The Gods know that I will never forgive myself. I realised too late that I loved you, but I do. All I kept thinking in that tower was how much I wanted you to come break through the guards and take me home. I thought he understood me better than anyone. I thought he… I was wrong. I love you, Robert. I always have and I always will.”

“So, what do you want?” He asked again, turning around. He knew it was a mistake but he did it anyways. She was like water and he was a man dying of thirst. She stood there, looking somewhat smaller than she used to. She looked pale, frail and like she was nothing more than a broken shell. There was a battle raging inside of him, trying to decide whether to stick with his pain and anger and make her see what her choice resulted in, or to forgive her on the spot and admit that he still loved her too. That he would always love her no matter what. “Are you asking if I will still marry you? Do you want to stay here and be _my_ Queen now that your prince is dead? Do you want to raise your bastard child under this roof and for me to name him the heir to the throne because of who his father is?”

Lyanna winced at the venom in his voice, and he would have felt bad but somehow it felt like justice. “No. You should marry someone else. I will take my son back to the North and raise him there. I just wanted to tell you the truth. I wanted you to hear it from me. I wanted you to know that I am sorry, and that I still love you.”

Somehow this was just as bad as all the rest. Robert had won the war. He had killed Rhaegar. He had won the crown and brought the Targaryen dynasty to an end but still he didn’t get the one thing he wanted. Ever since he first met her, Lyanna was the only thing he ever wanted in the world. He loved her truly, fully, unconditionally. He didn’t even look at other women when he was with her. He wanted her and only her for the rest of his life. She challenged him. She inspired him. She made him a better person. Then, she tossed him aside without a second thought. Now… now that her other lover was dead and gone and loved no more, she still didn’t want him.

“It would have been better if you had died.” 

The words fell from his mouth without much of a thought. He saw the way they hit her, her eyes hardening, her frail little frame tensing up from the impact. She didn’t shy away though, as he expected she would. She didn’t turn and run from the room. Lyanna pulled herself back up, blinked the tears from her eyes and stared right back at him.

“You don’t mean that. You are hurt but you don’t mean that.”

“Like Hell I don’t.” Robert laughed but it was a bitter one, free from any mirth at all, full of malice and anger, “If you had died then I could have grieved and got on with my life. I could have lived happily knowing that I killed the man who had kidnapped the woman I loved. Instead, what do I get? I get to sit on the knowledge that the one person I loved more than anything in the world didn’t love me back enough to stay. I get to know that she ran off and spread her legs for some pretty boy with a harp. I get to know that she came back, unleashed this assault of an explanation on me and then ran away to the North to cradle the only piece of her precious prince she had left. I get to live the rest of my life being in love with some Targaryen’s _whore_.”

Her face erupted into anger. Robert had gone too far but he honestly didn’t care. She needed to know what it felt like. He wanted her to feel the pain that he had been suffering through from the moment he found out she was missing. The entire Eyrie was smashed to pieces in his wrath because Robert thought the crowned Prince had kidnapped Lyanna. Now he had to come to terms with the fact that she knew what she was doing and went willingly. With the fact that she had thrown Robert’s heart on the ground and trampled over it on her way to Dorne with her lover. Now she had the audacity to come back and admit it was a mistake. To confess her neverending love and then run off once more. No. He wasn’t going to let her do that. If she was going to leave again, then he wouldn’t let her take his heart with her again. He was going to do everything in his power to hate her.

“Don’t you do that, Robert Baratheon. I admit I made a mistake, but that doesn’t mean you get to use your pain as an excuse to try and hurt me. You don’t get to do that.” The fire was back in her now. The fire that Robert had thought the dead prince had extinguished in her. He was almost happy to see her angry.

“I don’t get to do that, do I? You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do. I’m King now, remember? And, you are not my wife.”

“That doesn’t mean you get to try and hurt me! I thought you were the better man.”

“Don’t you dare say that. Don’t even think about saying I am anything like _him_ ,” Robert spat the word, still refusing to ever say his name.

“I didn’t think you were until now! I thought you were the better one. I thought you truly did love me.”

“I did!” He yelled back, not even bothering to keep his voice in control. “I loved you. I love you. I will always fucking love you, whether I want to or not. But I also hate you. I hate you because you didn’t want me. Because you didn’t trust me. I never did anything but love you and treat you well and respect your wishes. I didn’t so much as look at another girl while we were together because you didn’t want me to, and then you go off with a fucking married man. A married man, Lyanna. So yes, I get to be angry. I get to hurt you because none of it will ever come close to how you hurt me.”

She didn’t respond to that. The tension was still there, tying them together and keeping them apart, but she didn’t respond. She just stood there watching him, studying his face. Her own features melted the longer she looked. Her brow softened, lips fell apart, all the anger flowing away. Robert wasn’t sure what it was that she was seeing that had changed her reaction so quickly. Not until she stepped forward, her hand reaching up to rest on his cheek. He thought about flinching away from her touch, but he missed her _too damned much_. She brushed her thumb over his cheek, wiping away the streak of tear that had escaped his eye. His head leaned towards her hand and just as so many times before, he felt the anger slipping away with her touch. Robert never understood how she was able to do it, but it only ever took one touch for her to calm him. He tried not to think of Harrenhal, when she was crowned the Queen of Love and Beauty by another woman’s husband and her hand on Robert’s arm was the only thing keeping him from jumping up and beating the man bloody.

Lyanna stepped closer and those thoughts were quickly wiped from his mind. He leaned forward, his head resting against her forehead, and for a moment all felt right in the world again.

“I know I hurt you. It’s why I have to go back to the North. You deserve better than me. You deserve to love someone who won’t hurt you,” She spoke quietly, barely louder than a whisper.

“Then don’t hurt me again,” Robert said back immediately. Before either of them could think of someway to start the fight back up, he leaned forward and captured her lips in his own, kissing her with a fury more fiery than any dragon was capable of. It had been over a year since he had last held her in his arms, since he had last kissed her, breathing in her scent, drinking in her taste and he knew that he would never be able to live another day without it, without her. Lyanna Stark had run away with a dragon, but now she had finally come home.


End file.
